I just heard from the folks over at 43Rumors that at least one of their readers has shipping confirmation from Olympus of his pre-ordered 40-150mm F/2.8 lens. I have one on order with F11 Photo in Bozeman, Montana, so hopefully mine will be on its way as well. I can’t wait to test this lens and let others know if it’s going to be a viable option for our Lumix line of cameras. Yes, for those who don’t know, you can use Olympus lenses on Lumix bodies and Lumix lenses on Olympus bodies. They share lens mounts!
Why am I so excited about a lens that was built and designed for a different system than I’m currently shooting, the Panasonic Lumix GH4? Because it will actually fit and work with my GH4 and other Lumix bodies. But even more importantly, I’m hopeful Panasonic sees and understands the NEED and INTEREST for super high quality lenses for the MFT systems.
The downside to using the new 40-150mm F/2.8 lens on my Lumix GH4 is no Image Stabilization (IS)! That’s a big downside. Olympus incorporates their IS in the body. Lumix designs their IS in the lens. However, the new Olympus lens is fast enough, at F/2.8, that I should be able to shoot it at shutter speeds that reduce my need for IS. Also, the professional quality, build, and optics are something I just can’t ignore. Having chosen to start shooting a non-full-frame sensor, like the ones I have in my Nikons, I need to optimize optics quality to the nth degree. With the smaller MFT sensors I need the most professional optics I can get.
I’m hopeful this Olympus lens is a HUGE success. If it is, that will encourage the engineers and even more importantly, the BEAN counters at Panasonic, to build the lens I’m dreaming of. An updated Lumix Vario 100-300mm F/4 constant aperture with the fit and finish and optical quality of their 12-35 F/2.8 and their 35-100mm F/2.8.
Here’s to Olympus for leading the charge for serious, professional grade, long range optics. We need more of these types lenses.